Utilitarian Review 8/27/16

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hammer dracula

News

Logan Dalton at Graphic Policy has a nice review of my forthcoming ebook, “Your Favorite Superheroes Suck.”

And a reminder you can preorder the book here.

And see the awesome cover for my forthcoming Dracula book, designed by Vom Marlowe, above.
 
Patreon

Patrons at $2/mo can read my essay on Hammer Studios The Vampire Lovers, and how all vampires are lesbians now.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the LA Times I wrote about Nate Parker and the false idea that you can separate art and artist.

At Quartz I wrote about

—the promise (limited but real) of conservative prison reform.

— the University of Chicago’s anti trigger warning letter and how it intentionally restricts freedom of speech.

At Splice Today I wrote about

—why we should get rid of the electoral college.

—Redford’s The Candidate and selling lefty authenticity.

Utilitarian Review 8/20/16

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PRESIDENT'S ANALYST, THE, James Coburn, Joan Delaney, 1967

 
Patreon

For $2/mo partrons I wrote about

—charismatic bullied vampires and Let the Right One In.

—why Mark Millar’s Nemesis is bad.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At LARB I wrote about how academics and journalists are in the same neoliberal hell. Why can’t we all just get along?

At Quartz I wrote about War Dogs and ignoring war as you bomb people.

At Religion Dispatches I wrote about how our love of disaster makes us less safe.

At Splice Today I wrote about the great 1967 film The President’s Analyst and how politics will eat your brain.

Utilitarian Review 8/12/16

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favorite superhero

 
News

My next ebook, Your Favorite Superhero Sucks is available for preorder! Out September 19, with an awesome cover by my son.
 
Patreon

Free for all, I wrote about It Follows as a vampire film. (venereal disease horror ftw.)

For $1/mo subscribers, the introduction to Your Favorite Superhero Sucks. Find out why superheroes are bad!
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At the Guardian I wrote about

—Nelly Furtado, Timbaland, and the joy of promiscuous R&B.

—Spellbound, Suicide Squad, and fear of a female psychiatrist.

In my first piece for LitHub, I wrote about N.K. Jemisin’s The Obelisk Gate and why fantasy needs an apocalypse.

At the Reader I reviewed R&B duo Lion Babe.

At Splice Today I wrote about

—the joys of digital self promotion.

—the fact that you can think Trump is a fascist and still oppose him through democratic means.

—Otto Preminger’s Advise & Consent and the dream of a politics of individual conscience.

Utilitarian Review 8/6/16

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Upcoming

I managed to sell 50 copies of my ebook on Fecund Horror in my first month. I promised if that happened I’d watch It Follows and write about it…which is what I’m planning to do on Monday. So watch for that over on Patreon (it’ll be free.)

I also need to write another vampire essay this month. Maybe on Let the Right One In?

Also, as a benefit for $10/mo subscribers, I’ve offered to let people commission essays. I’ve only had two folks take me up on it so far; so over the next month or two I’m committed to writing about Mark Millar’s comic Nemesis and the film, Dude, Where’s My Car?
 
Patreon

I posted my essay on Lair of the White Worm and obvious penises for $2/mo subscribers.

I am going to publish a book called Your Favorite Superhero Sucks probably in early September. My son drew an awesome cover for it which $1/month subscribers can see here.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

At Playboy I wrote about the Suicide Squad and the dream that the people we imprison will love us anyway.

At Quartz I wrote about the virtues of teaching children to curse.

At Splice Today I wrote about

—John Ford’s The Last Hurrah, Trump and how you can’t tell the fascism from the democracy.

—two great banjo albums by Kaia Kater and Nathan Bowles.

Utilitarian Review 7/30/16

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Screen Shot 2016-07-29 at 8.57.53 PM

 
News

Artist Ganzeer said nice things about my ebook Fecund Horror.

And a print version of the book is now available on Amazon.

Patreon

I write about the 1922 film Nosferatu and why Loki from the Avengers is a vampire. (also why he’s Jewish.)

Next week I’m going to post a piece on the wonderful 1988 film Lair of the White Worm and why obvious penises symbolize vampires, or maybe the other way around. I put up the beginning of the essay here. pledge $2/month and you’ll get the whole thing delivered to your inbox on Monday.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

Al Fanar Media translated my article on poor academic writing into Arabic.

At the Guardian I wrote about

—the crappy new Killing Joke cartoon and the perils of updating old comics or movies.

—why violence against women is different from violence against men in pop culture. Not that it’s worse; it’s complementary.

At Quartz I talked about lessons that progressives can take from Sanders’ successes and failures.

At Splice Today I wrote about

—My Son John, and why paranoid anti communism is a relief after Frank Capra.

—why concerns about desistance seem overblown (there’s a good criticism of my piece in comments on the site, so you should read that too.)
 
Other Links

Gabriel Sherman has a terrifying article about Ailes’ long history of sexual abuse.

Bridget Phetasy says sexually liberated women deserve respect.

Interesitng and nuanced interview with a woman who is detransitioning.

Utilitarian Review 7/23/16

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R.P. Boo at Pitchfork

 
News

After more than 9 years, HU is going on hiatus. Lots of nice memories of the site in comments.

And Heidi at the Beat took a moment to be a jerk in my direction one last time.
 
On HU

Featured Archive Post: Domingos Isabelinho on Geneviève Castrée, who died last week.

mouse interviews Colin Spacetwinks on the history of furry.
 
On Patreon

On Bava’s Wurdulak and devouring your own children.

On Kevin in Ghostbusters, and why it’s men need incompetent, ditzy heroes.

I listed my 12 favorite films.
 
Utilitarians Everywhere

I went to Pitchfork and reported back to the Reader on what I found:
—Day One.

—Day Two

—Day Three

On Splice Today I wrote about

—Captain America and amnesiac Nazism.

—All the King’s Men and Hollywood’s post-racial populism.

The End, For Now

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Hey all. I wanted to tell you that HU is going on semi-hiatus, at least for the summer, and possibly for good. We’ll see what happens, but my family is moving in the next couple months, which is taking up a lot of time. In addition, for my own writing, I’m trying to focus on developing my Patreon and on writing ebooks. I’m not sure either of those projects are ever going to be self sustaining, but I’d like to give it a fair shot—and I don’t feel like I can do that if I’m also trying to keep the blog going.

This space won’t go dark completely; I’ll continue to post the Saturday roundups every week. And I’m sure I’ll have the occasional thing I want to say that I can’t place anywhere else which will end up here. But there won’t be daily posts or guest posts, at least for a while.

The blog started back in September 2007; so it’s been going for almost 9 years now. That’s an eternity in blogging. It’s been an incredibly rewarding experience hosting HU. I’ve made many friends, had tons of great conversations, and been lucky to publish wonderful articles by smart folks on topics I never would have known about without this blog.

Despite a viral post or two over the years, HU has never been what you’d call popular, even in comics circles, and I expect it’ll pass away for the most part unremarked. It’s been an amazing experience for me, though. I never could have thought when I started it that it would last so long, or mean so much to me. So to all of you who read, or commented, or posted here, thank you.